Ambode Sponsors Free Open Heart Surgery For Indigent Patients

Some indigent patients have benefitted from the ongoing Lagos State free Open Heart Surgery Mission sponsored by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode , in collaboration with two American non -governmental organizations , Cardiostart International and VOOM Foundation at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital ( LASUTH ).

Cardiostart International, an NGO based in the USA , started the free open heart surgery on indigent patients since June 23 , 2018 with surgeons and healthcare professionals of the Cardiothoracic Surgery unit in LASUTH and ended the mission on June 30.

Like the tremendous success rate recorded in the previous mission for the indigent patients in May , this mission by Cardiostart International, being performed on another set of patients with various heart conditions , has equally recorded high success rate.

Cardiothoracic Surgery is a super specialty in surgery that involves surgery on organs in the chest , which includes the heart , lungs and great blood vessels.

It is used to remedy such conditions like hole in the heart , tumors in the heart and lungs , disease of the heart valves and various lung conditions .
The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Health, Dr. Sola Pitan, said the aim of this planned successive missions is to bring succour to the people with congenital heart disease , and also reduce the cost of medical tourism in addition to building capacity of specialist in the hospital.

While the Chief Medical Director LASUTH , Prof . David Adewale Oke , attested to the fact that the cost of accessing surgery for heart -related diseases is in excess of millions , he commended the governor and the foreign partner for embarking on the expensive mission at no cost to the beneficiaries.

The Cardiostart International team leader , Dr. Emily Farkas , stressed the fact that the team came to LASUTH with various equipment , supplies and consumables worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the benefit of the indigent patients .

However , head of the cardiothoracic unit at LASUTH , Dr. Bode Falase , appealed to well – meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of people with congenital heart disease by lending a helping hand to the state government.